Find out why director JJ Abrams, who usually conceals his projects, releases fresh footage from the set of the upcoming movie

Notorious for going to great lengths to shut down all possibilities of a leak, like building a wall to hide his set (as he did on the Star Trek 2), it seems that American director J.J Abrams is willing to make some exceptions.

This time, the exception is charity.

Less than 5 days into the shooting of Star Wars Episode 7, the 47-year-old director-producer posted footage from the desert set in Abu Dhabi where he made a fundraising announcement for UNICEF Innovation Labs.

Abrams is giving away a trip to the London set and a cameo in the film to one lucky winner.

The on-set video offered the first glimpses of what looks to be fictional desert planet Tatooine in the new movie and is later invaded by an alien not seen in the previous films - a bearded, elderly creature carrying a crate on his back filled with birds - along with a bunch of extras playing market sellers in the background.